Auckland Zoo male red panda coming from India

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Darjeeling red panda to find home in New Zealand - Kolkata - City - The Times of India
Sagar, a male red panda of Padmaja Naidu Zoological Park in Darjeeling, will leave for Auckland Zoo in New Zealand at the end of this month as part of an exchange programme to make way for a female panda.

Efforts are being made to book a flight to New Zealand with special transportation arrangements, in accordance with international standards and guidelines. Sagar will, however, be kept at Kolkata airport in quarantine for a month before the actual departure.

The female red panda from Auckland Zoo is expected to arrive in Darjeeling by end-September or early October once the government formalities are completed.

"It is a routine exchange programme with various domestic and international zoos. Government formalities for sending our red panda have been completed but some formalities are pending to bring the panda from New Zealand," said zoo director A K Jha.

Since the inception of a scientific breeding programme undertaken in 1992, the Darjeeling zoo has successfully increased the number of red pandas. At present, there are 14 red pandas at the zoo.

As part of a captive breeding and release programme, four red pandas have so far been released in the Singalila National Park of Darjeeling between 2001 and 2003.

"Our zoo has the expertise and a successful rate in breeding red pandas. Since we have a larger number of males, we decided to replace them with females. Besides, we have to avoid genetic problems that could arise due to inbreeding," said Shiromani Syangden, estate officer of Darjeeling zoo.
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from Wikipedia's [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singalila_National_Park]Singalila National Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
Even though the national park has a resident Red Panda population of only about 20 - 25 members, Project Red Panda (funded by the Central Zoo Authority) chose Singalila National Park for reintroduction of Red Pandas from its captive breeding program at the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park in Darjeeling, mainly due to reasons of proximity. Two females, Sweety and Milli, were released in November 2004. Milli was killed by a leopard, but Sweety adapted to the wild and gave birth to an offspring - the first such successful re-entry for Red Panda.

The reintroduction was filmed by noted Indian filmmakers Rajesh Bedi and Naresh Bedi. The documentary, named Cherub of the Mist, won the Best Conservation and Environmental Film at the 29th International Wildlife Film Festival in Montana.
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It is good to see that routine animal exchanges are finally on something of a roll with Indian Subcontinent zoos now.

What is the relation of the male at Padmaju to the rest of the red panda population?
 
Red Panda swaps Auckland for India | Stuff.co.nz

A big OE doesn't normally include an arranged marriage in India but for New Zealand-born Red Panda Khosuva that's exactly what she's embarking on tomorrow.

The eight-year-old Auckland zoo resident leaves the country at 1pm for Darjeeling Zoo, northern India, to become part of a breeding programme to repopulate India's Singalalia National Park near Nepal.

In return, a male red panda, Sagar, is being sent to Auckland to strengthen and diversify the zoo's bloodline.

Senior carnivore keeper Sandra Rice said it would be an emotional departure as Khosuva was ''the baby of the family'' at the zoo.

Khosuva will be transported in a crate with a little food and water and will be accompanied by an Auckland zoo keeper.

Zoo conservation officer Peter Fraser said the destination zoo had been checked by other New Zealand keepers who have been involved in the red panda programme.

The accomodation ''will probably be better than the Commonwealth Games village'', he joked.

Mr Fraser said the project was an opportunity for zoos to support a vulnerable wild population.

Project Red Panda is working to create the Panchthar-Ilam-Taplejung corridor to connect isolated red panda populations along the India-Nepal border.

Red Panda:

- Listed as ''vulnerable'' byIUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)

- Estimated 2500 surving in the wild

- Threatened by illegal hunting and deforestation

- Life span 8 - 12 years

- Unrelated to any other animals including the Giant Panda and bears. Is the only member of the genus Ailurus.
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The accomodation ''will probably be better than the Commonwealth Games village'' :D
 
Again: is this Darjeeling red panda of a different bloodline than the ones represented in NZ or in other western world zoos?
 
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